Latin America

• Monday, April 6th 2009 - 10:30 UTC

  Best March performance in 15 years for Latam financial markets

  

  Latin American financial markets recorded their best monthly performance during March in more than 15 years, as signs of stabilization in the global financial system encouraged investors to take on risk.

• Monday, April 6th 2009 - 10:14 UTC

  Latam airlines consider airport security costs and standards

  

  Latinamerican countries must standardize security norms in airports but without this meaning an obstacle for staff and passengers, said IATA (International Air Transport Association) regional vice-president Patricio Sepulveda during the Latinamerican Civil Aviation Conference, CLAC, and currently held in Chile.

• Monday, April 6th 2009 - 09:41 UTC

  Tokyo’s plan to ship back 400.000 “nikkeis” to South American

  

  The Japanese government is planning to combat unemployment by sending back to their countries of origin 400.000 South American immigrants of Japanese stock. The idea is to pay them a small subsidy and a one way ticket to South America, an initiative that has generated some controversy in the Japanese press.

• Monday, April 6th 2009 - 08:52 UTC

  Russia and Chile committed to boost trade and defence cooperation

  

  Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and visiting Chilean counterpart Michelle Bachelet said during a meeting at the Kremlin that they were committed to bolster their countries bilateral ties in different areas, including trade and defence cooperation. Both leaders signed a joint declaration and two cooperation accords in culture and defence.

• Sunday, April 5th 2009 - 06:26 UTC

  Colombia demobilization plan working: 773 guerrillas in three months

  

  Colombian guerrillas are turning in by the hundreds according to the latest report from the government. In March 237 guerrillas demobilized and turned in their weapons taking the total for the first quarter of the year to 773.

• Sunday, April 5th 2009 - 06:17 UTC

  Argentina-Chile to jointly promote Patagonia tourism

  

  El Calafate in Argentina’s Santa Cruz province will be hosting the second Argentina-Chile Patagonia Tourism operators meeting scheduled for mid April and which is expected to convene over 200 experts. The first event was held in Chile’s Magallanes region.

• Saturday, April 4th 2009 - 10:53 UTC

  Chilean conservative presidential hopeful leads opinion poll

  

  Chilean conservative presidential hopeful Sebastián Piñera is ten percentage points ahead over Eduardo Frei the ruling coalition candidate for next November’s election according to the latest public opinion poll released Friday.

• Saturday, April 4th 2009 - 07:01 UTC

  Former Chavez ally and now opponent arrested on corruption charges

  

  Former Venezuelan Defence minister General Raúl Baduel accused President Hugo Chavez of ordering his detention to try to intimidate him and insisted he's innocent of corruption charges which are politically motivated.

• Friday, April 3rd 2009 - 09:12 UTC

  Bipartisan support in US to lift travel restrictions to Cuba

  

  United States senators from both parties, backed by activists and businessmen, began promoting a bill this week to lift travel restrictions to Cuba, and apparently have the necessary votes for approval.

• Thursday, April 2nd 2009 - 08:11 UTC

  Punta Arenas unemployment remains the lowest in Chile

  

  Unemployment in the region of Magallanes, extreme south of Chile increased from 2.2 to 3.2% in the December-February quarter compared to the same period a year ago according to the latest release from the Chilean Statistics Office.